Methodology

To meet project objectives, the reference committee and MiS designed a simple five-stage methodology.

1. In the first phase, MiS was to survey the membership to better understand their specific issues and stressors associated with change within their organizations.
2. The second phase was based on further research outside of the TCLN area to identify best practices and resources currently being used by literacy practitioners and administrators throughout the province. Additional research was to be completed through a review of relevant literature on managing change.
3. The third phase was designed to focus on developing a printed resource that would incorporate practical recommendations and suggestions for meeting and addressing change in the workplace, with a section devoted specifically to changes associated with Program Reform.
4. The fourth phase was to be devoted to organizing the one-day workshop at the Country View Golf Course and the preparation for that.
5. The fifth and final phase was to centre around evaluating the success of the project, especially the resource and the workshop.

Action plan

(For a chronological breakdown of the action plan, see Appendix A.)

Survey

The first survey sent out to practitioners and administrators within TCLN had three main objectives:

1. First, we wanted to better understand the changes — both literacy and general workplace — that literacy practitioners within the Tri-County area were facing.
2. Second, we wanted to identify different best practices and resources that literacy practitioners had used or were using at the time to help them manage change in the workplace.

And finally, we wanted to use the opportunity to ask practitioners and administrators what they thought should be incorporated into the workshop on managing change and when it should take place.

The instrument was comprised of 11 questions, arranged into three categories. In the first question, respondents were asked to rank different possible Program Reform stressors, using a modified Likert scale of one to five. In the second question, they were asked to rank the level of stress associated with general workplace changes, using the same scale.